Alfred b



(No Model.)

A.- B. SMITH.

NEWSPAPER EOLDEE.

No. 525,868. Patented Sept. 11, 1894.

ALFRED B. SMITH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE A. DUNLAP, OF SAME PLACE.

NEWSPAPER-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 525,868, dated September 11, 1894.

Application filed June 18,1894- Serial No. 514,934. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED B. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in thecounty of Cook and State of Illinois, have nvented a new and useful Improvement in Newspaper-Holders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in newspaper files or holders of the class comprising a stafi to which the newspapers are secured at their central margins, the staff being adapted to be held in the hand while the newspapers are being read. I

My object is to provide a file or holder of th1s class of improved construction which shall operate to hold the newspapers securely agalnst abstraction by unauthorized parties, be convenient to handle, and, furthermore, be of a comparatively light, inexpensive and durable construction.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a broken view 1n elevation showing my improved file or holder with a newspaper attached thereto; Flg. 2, a view in elevation of the file or holder open for the filing of newspapers; Fig. 3, an enlarged, broken sectional View of the upper or outer end portion of the file or holder; Fig. i, a broken perspective view of the upper or outer end of the staff; Fig. 5, a section on line 5 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6,a broken longitudinal sectron of the staff taken near the handle-portlon and showing locking means for a spring paper-clamping rod; Fig. 7, a section on line 7 of Fig. 6; and Fig.8, an end view of the look.

A 1s a staff which may be of springy Wood, or llght metal, such as aluminum, or it may be a hollow metal tube. In the preferred form, the staff is normally curved longitudinally, as shown in Fig. 2, and is provided in ts convex side with a shallow groovet. At its upper or outer end the staff is provided with a ferrule s affording an end-socket s. The end of the stafi in the ferrule is beveled off slightly to produce the beveled end surfacet. At the lower end of the stafi is a handle B. The handle is joined to the staff by means of a metal ferrule O, which is suitably secured at its opposite end portions to the adjacent ends of the staff and handle.

D is a spring-metal rod curved longitudinally as shown in Fig. 2. At its upper end the rod terminates in a hook r, and adjacent to the hook it is provided with a rigid backward extending disk-shaped plate '1' which fits into the socket s. The plate 0" has an opening through it for a screw T which passes through the plate into the end of the staff and holds the plate in place securely, but with sufficient looseness to permit the plate to rock on the screw. On the lower end-portion of the rod D is a lateral projection or finger q provided with serrations afiording notches g. In the ferrule C is an opening 10, and registering with said opening is a socket p in the inner end of the handle B. Secured upon the inner end of the handle in the ferrule O is a lock E having a spring boltn which projects normally into the socket p. The lock may be operated to retract the bolt by the turning of a removable key (not shown) which is inserted at a key-holep in the ferrule C. When the spring rod D is pressed in the direction of the staff, it extends in the groove 15, and its finger q passes through the opening in the ferrule G into the socket p where it is engaged at one of its notches g by the spring bolt n and locked in place. When thus closed the device can only be opened by inserting the proper key into the key-hole p and retracting the bolt.

In order that the newspapers may be held with desired security in the file, the rod D must be of stiff springy metal, preferably steel; and as the tendency of the-rod when closed is to bend the staff forward, I have found it important to curve the staff in the backward direction as shown. When the rod D is pressed to the staff and locked, the force of the spring bends the staff forward so that it extends approximately straight, as shown in Fig. 1; and when the rod is unlocked and allowed to spring forward, the stafi assumes its normal curve, as shown in Fig. 2.

When the device is opened, the rod extends at its free end away from the staff, permitting the newspapers to be readily placed in position; and,.owing to the loose nature of the joint, newspapers practically the full length of the staff may be passed into and held by the device. The newspapers are pressed by the rod, when closed, into the groove tand it is impossible to abstract a paper without either tearing it at the rod, or employing the proper key. Loss and annoyance are frequently occasioned in public reading rooms, by the abstraction by unauthorized parties, of papers from their holders; and my improvement which makes such abstraction impossible, or at least very difficult, adds materially to the usefulness and desirability of the device. As shown in the drawings, the finger q is provided with more than one notch q, so that it accommodates itself to the thickness or number of newspapers in the file.

The device constructed as described meets all the requirements of a reading-room portable newspaper file or holder. It is of a particularly light, strong and durable construction and convenient to handle.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a newspaper-holder, the combination of a stafi": having a longitudinal groove, a handle joined to the staff by a ferrule provided with an opening, a spring-bolt lock in the ferrule, to which said opening leads, and a normally bent spring-rod provided at one end with a notched finger and fastened at its opposite end-portion to the free end-portion of the staff, the rod being compressible against the stafi, to extend in the said groove, and project at its notched finger into the ferrule opening to be engaged by the lock, and a keyinsertion hole in the ferrule for the lock, substantially as described.

2. In a newspaper-holder, the combination of a normally bent stalf havingalongitudinal groove in its convex side, a handle joined to the staif by a ferrule provided with an opening, a lock in the ferrule to which said opening leads, and a spring rod provided at one end with a lock engaging finger and fastened at its opposite end-portion to the free end-portion of the stafi, the rod being bent to extend normally away from the staif and compressible against its own and the staffs resistance against straightening to extend in the said groove and project at its said finger into the ferrule opening to be engaged by the lock, substantially as described.

3. A newspaper-holder, comprising, in combination, the stafl: A, having the groove 13, handle B, ferrule 0, between the handle and staff, having an opening 19 and key-hole p lock E in the ferrule O, ferrule s on the end of the staff, normally bent spring-rod D, loosely pivoted at one end to the staff at the ferrule s, and provided at its opposite end with a lock engaging finger q, the whole being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

ALFRED B. SMITH.

In presence of- M. J. Fnoscr, W. Y. WILLIAMS. 

